Vita, arte e mistica Quotes

“Most philosophers and moralists believe as little in what they write as the manufacturers of baby foods and meat extracts believe in their own products; neither do they act with more good faith than those who lead spiritualist séance; and very few poets have themselves experienced the happiness they describe.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“You will recognize your free will … through the walls of causality, “miracles” continue to glide and flow, visible only to the free and enlightened… over and above physical causality you can see a clear direction in your own life’s course, determined by the self…”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“Only he who recognizes that he has nothing, that he cannot possess anything, that absolute certainty is unattainable, who completely resigns himself and sacrifices all, who does not know anything, does not want anything and does not want to know anything, who abandons and neglects everything, he will receive all; to him the world of freedom opens, the world of painless contemplation and of—nothing.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“In language transcendent truth seems to be the prerogative of imitators who have vaguely understood the words of the prophet and recognized them as truth, but only after watering it down to suit themselves.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“In language transcendent truth—even less than immanent truth—cannot be revealed without causing an outrage. A clear and true statement, seriously and emphatically pronounced, is no more acceptable than the manifest performance of a miracles.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“Originally man lived in isolation; with the support of nature every individual tried to maintain his equilibrium between sinful temptations. This filled the whole of his life, there was no room for interest in others nor worry about the future; as a result labour did not exist, nor did sorrow, hate, fear, or lust. But man was not content, he began to search for power over others and for certainty about the future. In this way the balance was broken, labour became more and more and more diabolical. In the end everyone wielded power and suffered suppression at the same time. The old instinct of separation and isolation has survived only in the form of pale envy and jealousy.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“We have now reached the point where everyone has power but at the same time suffers oppression. The old instinct of separation and isolation now lives only as pale envy and jealousy.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“Look at this world, full of wretched people, who imagine that they have possessions, worried that they might lose them and ever toiling in the hope of acquiring more. Look at all these people, striving after luxury and wealth, those whose riches are secured, whose stocks and shares are safely deposited, and who now nurture an insatiable appetite for knowledge, power, health, glory and pleasure.

Only he who recognizes that he has nothing, that he cannot possess anything, that security is unattainable, only he who completely resigns himself and sacrifices all, who gives everything, who does not know anything, who does not want anything and does not want to know anything, who abandons and neglects all, he will receive all. The world of freedom is opened to him, the world of painless contemplation and―of nothing.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“Intellect has done mankind a devil's service by linking the two phantasies of means and end... there are others [scientists] who do not know when to stop, who keep on and on until they go mad. They grow bald, short-sighted and fat, their stomachs stop working, and moaning with asthma and gastric trouble they fancy that in this way equilibrium is within reach and almost reached.... So much for science, the last flower and ossification of culture.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Vita, arte e mistica

“It is part of the balance of the eternal and omnipresent life that everyone is called away from this earthly existence when one’s time has come. Until then man suffers in mind and body as befits his evil mood of thrift, his lust for power, his vanity and fear.”
― L.E.J. Brouwer, Leven, Kunst en Mystiek